b's Travel Pages

Turkey -
Istanbul

Straddling the Bosphorus where the Mediterranean meets the Black Sea,
Europe and Asia meet in Istanbul, and the allure of the Orient asserts its
irresistibility.

The Blue Mosque at night.
Looks like its ready to blast off. Inside worshipers remove their shoes and kneel
towards Mecca on the fine carpets.

The Blue Mosque stands across from the Sancta Sofia (not pictured) which
was once the greatest church in Christendom. Constructed in 532 it was the largest
domed basilica until St. Peter's was built 1,000
years later. Converted into a mosque in 1483 and recently (1935) made into a
sort of museum by Turkish reformer Atatürk.

Bumper-car to Byzantium!

Gentiles, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and you!

Everybody likes bumper cars! I've seen 'em really get after it in
Thailand too!

"An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium." (WB Yeats)